Kings Bench in Westminster-hall where a Theatre was erected in height equal with the Bench covered over with green Cloth In the upper end was placed the Tribunal Chair of State for the High Steward on either side the Peers of the Realm and under them the Iudges in the lower end against the State were the Kings learned Council and at their backs two Pews lifted up to face the Court for the Prisoner and his Keeper and in the midst of the Court a place of descension for the Clerk of the Crown and his Assistant where they all met between eight and nine of the Clock that Morning First the Clerk of the Crown and the Iudges the Lieutenant of the Tower and the Prisoner retiring into a Room near hand then the Peers seven and twenty in number those of the Garter order wearing their Coller of Esses about their neck the chiefest of them were Weston Lord Treasurer Earl of Manchester Lord Privy Seal Arundel Earl Marshall of England and so the rest Then enters the Lord High Steward his Grace in a black Velvet Gown trimm'd with Gold Buttons and Lace before him 7. Maces of State born by the Serjeants at Arms attended by Sir Io Burroughs Garter principal King of Arms and Maxwel Usher of the Black Rod. The Judges Assistants for Counsel in case of Law were Sir Nicholas Hide Chief Justice of the Kings Bench Sir Thomas Richardson Chief Justice of the Common Pleas Sir Humphrey Davenport Chief Baron of the Exchequer and Baron Denham four Judges Iones Hutton Whitlock and Crook The learned Council were Sir Robert Heath Attorney General Sir Richard Chelton Solicitor General Sir Io Finch the Queens Attorney General and Sir Thomas Crew Serjeant at Law Sir Thomas Fanshaw Clerk of the Crown and Keeling his Assistant The Clerk of the Crown presented his Grace with the Patent of his Place of Lord High Steward of England After O yes he delivered the Patent to the Clerk of the Crown who read it and returned it back The Black Rod kneeling down presented him with the White Staff or Verge of State After a second O yes his Grace gave leave to the Peers to be covered and Proclamation made That the Judges should bring in as by Writ commanded all the Records touching the Earls Arraignment and the Peers answered particularly to their several names After the third O yes the Lieutenant of the Tower brought in his Prisoner into their powers and his Warrant being read his Grace addressed himself to the Peers My Lord Audley said he for so he stiled him as a Baron of England and not by his Creation of Earl Castlehaven being a forreign Title of Ireland by which Title onely he could not be tried by the Peers the Kings Majesty is given to understand both by report and also by Verdict of divers Gentlemen of quality in your County that you stand impeached of sundry Crimes of a most high and hainous nature and therefore he brings you this day to trial doing therein like the Almighty King of Kings in the eighteenth of Genesis who went down to see whether the sins of the Sons of Sodome and Gomorrah were so grievous as the cry of them that came before him And Kings on Earth can have no better Patern to follow than that of the King of Heaven and so hath summoned by special command these your Peers either to acquit or condemn you they being so noble and so just so indifferent Iudges for his Majesty desires that your Trial should be as equal and upright as Iustice it self wherefore you may speak boldly and confidently without fear to clear your self and so to be set free but if otherwise your own conscience accuse you give the honour to God and the King by confessing the truth without shifts or subtilties against it which are but Consilia adversus Dominum May it please your Grace said Audley I have stood committed close Prisoner six moneths without Friends or Counsel deprived of the knowledg of the particular circumstances of the Crimes laid to my charge unskilfull of the advantages or disadvantages of Law and but weak to plead at the best and therefore desire liberty of Counsel to plead for me Your long Imprisonment said his Grace hath been rather a favour for conveniency to bethink your self and you shall have all possible favour in this your first demand in which the Iudges shall satisfie you as in all other your deâ—ires in the prosecution of your Trial. The Judges gave opinion that in principal Causes Counsel is not to be allowed for matter of Fact but for matter of Law it may His Grace commanded the Clerk of the Crown to reade his Indictments being three in number The first for a Rape by assisting Brodway his own Servant to ravish his Wife the Countess of Castlehaven The other two for Sodomy committed on the Body of Brodway and on Fitz Patrick his Footman To which he pleaded Not guilty c. And therefore his Grace said thus to the Peers My Lords the Prisoner is indicted of Rape and Sodomy and pleads Not guilty My duty is to charge you with the Trial Yours to judg The Cause may move pity in some detestation in all but neither of them may be put in the Scale of Iustice for a Grain on either side sways the Ballance Let Reason rule your affections your heads your hearts to heed attentively and weigh equally In the right course the Iudges will direct you if doubts arise Ye are not sworn how to proceed the Law supposeth your integrity to Iustice which others are compelled unto by Oath And so God direct you Crew opened the Indictments and so was seconded and by turns all the other but the Attorney General proceeded in brief that the Crimes were far more base and beastly than any Poet invented or History ever mentioned Suetonius indeed sets out the Lives of Heathen Emperours whose Sovereignty had no Law to question their Power nor Religion to bound their wills from acting any Crimes And here ravelling into his former debauched life and profession of Papistry digressing from the matter of the Indictments the Prisoner desired that his Religion nor other circumstances not conducing to his crimes charged might be spared But he was told to forbear to interrupt the Council till the time fitting to make answer And so the Attorney went on with his Religion bred up a Protestant and after fell to Papistry for more liberty in evil or rather of both Professions or of either or of none at all Cor quod ingreditur duas vias non habet successum In the morning at a Mass afternoon at a Sermon believing in God thus basely God left him at the last to his lusts and so to Atheism to work wickedness without hope of Heaven or horrour of Hell His moral actions beyong imagination wicked for though he married this Lady as noble in birth as great in fortune so soon as
Against abuses committed on Sundays The King to make Leases of Lands parcel of his Dutchy of Cornwall For ease of obtaining Licences of Alienation and in the Pleadings of Pardon in the Exchequer or else where For restraining Misbehaviour in Inns and Alehouses That this Session shall not determine by his Majesties royal assent to these Acts. Then passed a Bill in the Lower House of Tonnage and Poundage but because it was limited to one year whereas former Grants to his Majesties Predecessors were for Life It was foundred in the Upper House The Reason of this Restraint was thus In a Parliament the 18. of King Iames the Kings learned Councill culled out of that Act reasons for pretermitted Customes and other Impositions which were accounted Grievances to the Subject and an Imoderate charge upon those Customes and therefore their Design was to reduce them to the rate settled long since tempore Mariae but they wanted time enough to mold it now The next Assembly met the first day of August at Oxford The Divinity School for the Commons and the Gallery above for the Lords Hence is observed a pretty Note To give up the Divinity-School to the Commons and that Chair to their Speaker put them into an usurpation of Determinations of Divinity and henceforward no Parliaments without a Committee of Religion of Lay-Persons not onely to mannage controversies of Divinity but to ruine the old and to establish a New And because the Kings designes required Expedition He summons both Houses to Christ-Church Hall where he urged to them his Necessities for setting forth his Fleet. But his desires found no other consideration than for a formal Petition against Recusants and the causes of their increase with the Remedies Most Gracious Soveraâ—gn IT being infallibly true that nothing can more establish your Throne and assure the peace and prosperity of your People then the unity and sincerity of Religion We your Majesties most humble and loyal Subjects and Commons in this present Parliament assembled observing that of late there is an apparent mischievous encrease of Papists within your Dominions hold our selves bound in conscience and duty to present the same unto your sacred Majesty together with the dangerous consequences and what we conceive to be the most principal causes and what may be the remedies thereof 1. Their desperate ends being the subversion both of Church and State and the restlessness of their Spirits to attain those ends The Doctrine of their Teachers and Leaders perswading them that therein they shall do God good Service 2. Their evident and strict dependance upon such Foreign Princes as no way affect the good of your Majesty and this State 3. An opening a way of Popularity to the ambition of any who shall adventure to make himself head of so great a party The principal causes of the increase of Papists 1. The want of due execution of the Laws against Iesuits seminary Priests and Papists Recusants occasioned partly by Connivance of the State partly by many abuses of Officers 2. The interposing of foreign Princes by their Ambassadours and Agents in favour of them 3. Their great Concourse to the City and their frequent conventicles and conferences there 4. The Education of their children in Houses and Seminaries of their Religion in foreign parts which of late have been greatly multiplied and enlarged for the entertainment of the English 5. That in many places of this your Realm your people are not sufficiently instructed in the knowledge of true Religion 6. The licentious publishing of Popish and seditious Books 7. The imployment of men ill affected in Religion in places of Government who countenance the Popish party The Remedies be these 1. That there be great Care taken in the choise and admitting School-Masters and that the Ordinaries make diligent inquiries of their demeanours and proceed to the removing of such as shall be faulty 2. That the antient Discipline of the University be restored being the famous Nursery of literature 3. That for the propagation of the Gospel such able Ministers as have been formerly silenced may by fair entreaty of the Bishops be reduced to the service of the Church and that Non-residency Pluralities and Commendums may be moderated 4. That a straight provision may be made against transporting of English children to Popish Seminaries beyond Seas and for recalling such as are there already 5. That no Popish Recusant be permitted to come within the Court unless upon special occasion agreeable to the Statute 3â— Iacobi 6. That all Jesuits Priests and others having taken Orders from the See of Rome may be banished by Proclamation and in case of disobedience may be proceeded against according to the Laws of the Land 7. That none by any authority derived from the See of Rome be permitted to confer Orders or exercise any Ecclesiastical function within your Majesties Dominions 8. That all former Grants of Recusants lands made to the use and interest of such Recusants may by the advice of your Majesties Council be voided 9. That all Recusants may be excommunicated and not absolved but upon conformity 10. That all Recusants be removed from places of authority and government 11. That all Recusants be disarmed according to the provision of the Law 12. That they may be all confined to remain at their Country habitations and not to travel above five miles from thence 13. That none of your Majesties natural born Subjects be suffered to repair to the hearing of Masses or other superstitious service at the Chappels or houses of foreign Ambassadours or elsewhere 14. That all such insolencies as any Popishly affected have lately committed to the dishonour of our Religion be exemplarily punished 15. That the penalâ—y of 12. d. every Sunday for default of coming to Divine Service in the Church without lawful excuse may be put in Execution Lastly that your Majesty would be pleased to order that the like courses may be taken in Ireland for the establishing of true Religion there The Kings Answer was so satisfactory and sodain to each particular being heretofore branched to his Father and the remedies resolved upon them and now so reasonably required as that the King took him from hence to speak for himself and to put them to it to supply his very urgent Necessities to set forth his Navy It found affection in some earnest to give and to satisfie the present occasion with expedition Others having no heart to deny nor willing to contribute but cunningly to gain convenient time as to prejudice the Design which was to be sodain and there were these the most averse that quarreled not the Expedition for it was secret and so ought to be but old Sir Robert Mansel a quarrelous person for his interest in the Glass house then in dispence must be set up a Man of great Experience and sound Judgement but where in the Narrow Seas And he by Guess had declared against the Design and tendered some overtures
the States preferred to the Throne and a fair occasion was offered to signalize his Inauguration and to be the terrour of his enemy the Muscovite who having done much spoyl in Lituania besieged the Polish Town of Smolensko The War was high and either party endeavour their succour Both of them in this quarrel indifferent to Great Brittanes Interest unlesse the Scots will afford the Pole their favour for countenancing their pedling trade of Land Merchandizing from Fair to Fairs And indeed they have reception there also for such of them as have been souldiers of fortune But the English upon a double account have increased their Naval trade to the Muscovite and our Merchants thereby inriched into an Incorporate Company setled in the time of Queen Elizabeth and so that great Duke or Emperour solicits King Charles for Assistance in his intended War and siege of Smolensko where because the English and Scots both had entertainment on either side they shall not want a Remembrancer The King of Swede at his first descending into Germany fomented this quarrel willing he was to engage Poland and all our neighbour Princes and States in any War the better to prevent their assistance to the Emperour countenancing and enâ—â—uraging divers of his own Officers strangers to take pay on either side The Muscovite sends abroad his Ambassadours for aid with particular Letters to King Charles for Men and Officers who recommended Colonel Thomas Sanderson which for a compleat double Regiment of two thousand English by the North Cape the first that ever transported Military men to that Nation by sea to the Town of Arch Angel the North part and Port to the Musco and the place where all Merchants strangers keep their Staâ—le There they land the sixth of August 1632 Commissioners are appointed to receive them upon such conditions as never were more noble for Souldiers the Colonels own single pay near 200 l. sterling a Moneth And being received and Carressed at Musco the whole Army march to Smolensko a strong Town in the borders of Poland formerly taken by Sigismund from the Muscovite with a two years siege like that of Ostend in Flanders if we consider the length of the siege and the number of the slain which amounted as Authours reckon to more than twenty thousand men and now was the Muscovite resolved to bid fair for the Game with an Hoast of fifteen hundred thousand Souldiers And being come after some Skirmishes the King of Poland in person draws down his whole Army thither to besiege the Besiegers Entrenching himself which was all he could do for the present against such a powerful Army of 120 thousand and so by degrees he cuts off all provisions which put the Musco General to quicken the siege and to make several attempts upon the strong Town And at last having summoned his Councel of War And amongst them of several Nations Colonel Sanderson Colonel Alexander Lesly a Scot differing in opinions fell to quarrel which the General opposed saying These that will not fight the Enemy let them keep their own quarters But gave command to countenance Colonel Sanderson with 3000 Foot to fall upon the Polish quarters weakened by drawing off their choisest Horse and Foot to Dorogobuse to prevent their Muscovite provision of relief and the General privately took Sanderson crosse the River to get a secret view for the best advantage of the designe When suddenly an Alarm came to the General who commanded Sanderson with speed to his quarters who passing by the brow of an Hill where Lesly drew out into Order and seeing Sanderson without any guard with a dozen of Horse followed him that took no heed of any Treason but minding his enemy before his face Lesly came close behinde him and with a brace of bullets shot him by the nape of the neck into the head stark dead the second day of December 1633. Upon which Murther the English drew into a Body with resolution of revenge upon Lesly and his Scots but for the instant were both commanded into a truce with great protestation that the Murtherer should be subject to severe punishment and so submitted him to a Guard of which the enemy having knowledge takes the advantage falls upon the Muscovite and in this disorder put them to a great losse and kills six thousand enforcing them to a Parly and to these base unheard-of conditions That an Army of an hundred and twenty thousand should cast their Arms and Colours at the feet of this King a Monster of Victory He pardons them all the strangers near fourteen thousand are never to bear Arms against the Crown of Poland and all Arms and Ammunition submitted to the Conquerour And not long after the general peace was ratified between them That the King of Poland should relinquish his Title and pretensions upon the great Duchy of Musco and the grand Duke his upon Smolensko and other such places formerly depending on the Muscovite These dishonourable conditions fell heavily upon the General who was at his return home soon-beheaded His Son the Lievetenant General whipt to death about the streets and his family banished for ever into the Countrey of Ibera there to catch Sables for the Emperours profit a customary punishment of such as have relation and dependance upon Traitours Nay the King of Swede had called in the Turk who to besiege Poland was entred into the Countrey but the King had timely gotten this Victory to put fire in the Turks tails beating them out again and forcing them also to beg a peace upon most honourable terms for the King at that same time when the third part of Constantinople was burnt to the ground with incredible losse a Prodigie threatning the Turk with that misfortune which afterward befel him The Murtherer Lesly after some time of imprisonment with great summes of money wrought his release there and to be sent Prisoner to the justice of King Charles whose subject he was Here he was cast into prison and suffered under the trial onely of the High Court of Honour where being arraigned he produced the Kings pardon who was pleased thus to excuse and that truly That being the Murther was committed in a foreign Nation the Laws of England could not reach to punish with death which said the King having passed a formal Tryal may give caution to his Subjects not to execute the like The pardon being onely to shadow from publick knowledge the weakness of our Laws against such foreign Offenders But the Hand of Heaven prosecuted this Murther for He wandring in foreign Wars came over hither again with some command in the Queens forces which She brought over from Holland for assistance of the King in the late Civil War where upon his first service he was 〈◊〉 and maimed in his Murtherous hand Then he returns into Muscovia where but for suspicion of Treachery he was imprisoned in a Tower and from the top was flung 〈◊〉 sharp stakes and lingred out a reasonable time of
est mala cujus finis est bonus contrary to Saint Paul Non est faciendum malum ut bonum inde eveniat And because the major part of that ignorant infatuated Nation remained as yet intangled in that Errour that these were the seven Articles of Pacification and burnt by the Hangman as the Ministery thundered out of their Pulpits to make the King odious I conceive it very necessary for the undeceiving of the Multitude and satisfying the most curious to set down verbatim his Majesties Proclamation there anent which is now rarely to be found for the Scots endeavour to suppress such Truths A Proclamation publishing an Act of State and his Majesties Command concerning a scandalous Paper lately dispersed amongst many of his Subjects WHereas a Paper containing many Falshoods and tending much to the dishonour of his Majesties late Proceedings in the Pacification given to his Subjects of Scotland hath been dispersed in divers parts of this Kingdom whereupon an Act of Council hath been made in these words ensuing viz. On Sunday the fourth of August sixteen hundred thirty nine his Majesty being in Council was pleased to acquaint the Lords with a Paper which he had seen in Barwick intituled Some Conditions of his Majesties Treaty with his Subjects of Scotland before the English Nobility are set down here for remembrance Which Paper being in most parts full of falshood dishonour and scandal to his Majesties Proceedings in the late Pacification given of his Princely grace and goodness to his Subjects of Scotland hath been very frequently spread here in England and avowed in Scotland by some to have been approved and allowed as Truth by somâ— of these Lords in England who attended his Majesty and were present at the Pacification in the Camp Whereupon the Paper having been read and his Majesty commanding these English Lords to declare their knowledg thereof The Earl Marshal first began to put his Majesty in remembrance that some few days after the Pacification was concluded some of the Scotâ— Lords coming to the Chamberlain's Tent sent to speak with him and the Earl of Holland and offered them a certain Paper which they pretended to have been collected for the help of their memories and not otherwise nor to be published but the said English Lords very dutifully and discreetly refused to accept of that or any such Paper but referred themselves totally to the Articles of Pacification in writing and the said Earl Marshal further declared that now upon the reading he for his part held the said Paper for the most part false and scandalous and no way agreeable to what his Majesty expressed at the Pacification Next the Lord Chamberlain declared that being ready to take horse and a number of his Friends about him taking their leave the Lord Loudon pressed him with much importunity to receive a Paper which he took not knowing what it contained but at night when he came to his Lodging doubting it might be some such Paper as was formerly offered and was refused took it without reading of it and sealed it up and so kept it untill he presented it to his Majesty at White-hall professing that till that time he had never read any one word of it nor seen any other Copy thereof which Paper being that which had been divulged was the very same which his Majesty commanded to be read at the Board The Earl of Salisbury likewise desired to justifie himself of a particular Scandal laid upon him that he had received and brought Copies of this Paper from the North which he declared could not be because he was come away from the Camp before that Paper was offered and had never seen it nor any Copy thereof before his Majesties return to Theobalds After this the Lord Chamberlain the Earls of Salisbury Holland and Berkshire concurred with the Earl Marshal that the Contents of that Paper were for the most part notoriously scandalous false and contrary to what his Majesty clearly expressed at the Pacification His Majesty likewise declared that before his coming from Berwick he shewed a Copy of this scandalous Paper to the Earl of Lindsey the Earl of Holland Mr. Treasurer Dorine and Secretary Cook who fully concurred in the foresaid opinion with the other Lords all which Lords and particularly the Earl of Holland avowed the falsness thereof to the faces of these Scots Lords who were believed to be the divulgers thereof the Lords of the Council of Scotland being there likewise present All which considered the whole Board unanimously became humble Petitioners to his Majesty that this false and scandalous Paper might be publickly burnt by the Hangman and that his Majesties pleasure might be published by Proclamation that no person or persons hereafter of what Degree or Condition soever presume to keep any Copy thereof but that within ten days after the said Proclamation published every such person and persons shall deliver to the next Iustice of Peace all and every Copies thereof the same to be immediately sent to one of the principal Secretaries upon peril of such punishment as the Law inflicts upon such as keep up seditious Papers which was accordingly ordered and commanded to be entred into the Council-book as an Act of State His Majesty therefore by the advice of his Privy Council doth hereby publish the said Act of State unto all his loving Subjects to the end that being forewarned they may avoid the Danger which may ensue by the detaining or concealing any Copy or Transcript of the said Paper strictly charging and commanding all manner of persons what soever that they presume not to keep any Copy of the same according to this Act upon such Penalties as are done by Law And his Majesty is hereby graciously pleased to pardon and remit the offence of such persons as have had any Copy of the said Paper and shall deliver it up within ten Days after Publication hereof as aforesaid Given at our Palace of Westminster the eleventh of August 1639. How evident it is to all men how poorly these pacifying English Lords Commissioners came off Pembroke Salisbury Holland and Berkshire Sir Harry Vane senior and Secretary Cook all except honest Berkshire sided afterwards with the Covenanters against the King And when the King charged the Scots Commissioners with this Paper they made no Answer as not being within their Instructions but afterwards in their grand Declaration the State of Scotland makes this pitifull Answer or Excuse As we are most unwilling to fall upon any Question which may seem to import the least contradiction with his Majesty so if it had not been the trust which we gave to the Relation of our Commissioners who did report to us his Majesties gracious Expressions related daily to us at Dunce the place of their Camp and put into Notes by many of our Number which were a great deal more satisfactory to us than the written Declaration the same would not have been acceptable which
their practices provoking Aspersions upon the most gracious and best of Kings that he levels at none in particular let the faults lead to the men not to be exposed to irregular prejudices nor with-held from orderly justice Bodies natural to be effectually purged of Humours must be made moveable and fluid so of the Politick to be cleared of their Maladies by loosening and unsettling the evil Ministers and to be drawn into a Remonstrance and presented to a gracious Masters clear and excellent judgment And so he sat down This was held too courtly and which was suddenly laid hold on A forward young man well made up with Learning and by his Fathers fate kept aloof from the Beam of Sovereignty a little Sun-shine would enliven him some Marks of Majesty fell from the Queen which taken up tainted him presently after and in him his Father also now made Friends whom the King took also into favour The King to keep the City from Tumult and to prevent the Insolencies of busie and loose People had established a Constable of the Tower of London Supreme to the Lieutenant under command of the Lord Cottington enabling it with a Garrison also of four hundred Souldiers and with some shew of Fortification thereof at this very time when some publick notice was given to the Parliament of an extraordinary confluence of Popish Recusants in and about the City of London and Westminster and therefore to take away all Jealousies of conniving with them or other Fears of over-mastering the City he was pleased to send a Message to the Parliament that by Proclamation the Papists shall be instantly removed to their places of abode with prosecution also against their persons disarming their power according to Law And as for the Tower he erected the Government by a Constable and Garrison in favour to the peace of the City but is now resolved to leave the Tower to the command of a Lieutenant onely as hath been heretofore And in the afternoon came out an Order of the Commons House that all Projectours and unlawfull Monopolists that have or had lately any benefit from Monopolies or countenanced or issued out any Warrants in favour of them against Non-conformists to Proclamations or Commands concerning their Interests shall be disabled to sit in the House and Master Speaker is to issue out new Warrants for electing other Members in their places Whereupon it was notoriously observed how vacant their Rooms were upon the self-accusation of their own guilt who but lately framed speeches against others abroad who lodged under the Parliament lash for such Crimes The next day complaint was made to the Lords that their Privileges were infringed by the search of the Earl of Warwick and the Lord Brooks their Pockets Cabinets and Studies upon the Dissolution of the last Parliament And Sir William Beecher one of the Clerks of the Council being the Instrument alleged for his Excuse the command of the two Secretaries of State which could not protect him from Commitment to the Fleet Prison The Commons House intent upon publick justice sent Master Pym to the Lords with a Message the Impeachment of Thomas Earl of Strafford Lord Lieutenant of Ireland as guilty of High Treason Whereupon he was sequestred from the House and committed to the Usher of the Black Rod and Sir George Ratcliff his Confederate and supposed Criminary with him was two days after sent for out of Ireland by a Serjeant at Arms. And here we cannot pass by many wise mens opinions whether the Earl assumed his wonted judgment and courage when he came from the Army to this Parliament His wisdom could not chuse but know that the Scots and Scotizing English had infallibly resolved his destruction his innocency to be no Armour of Proof against Malice and Power why did he not rather keep under safeguard of the English Army at his command from which he had got much affection or have passed over into Ireland the Army there also at his devotion or in plain terms have taken Sanctuary into some foreign parts till fair weather might have invited him home whether it had been a betraying of his Innocency to decline the Trial where Partiality held the Beam of the Scales and self-ends backedâ— with power and made blinde with prejudice were like to over-ballance Justice that if Sentence should have passed against him for Non-appearance yet had he kept his Freedom till better times and have done his Master better service abroad than in Council at White-hall But on the other side it was said that all these Considerations had been pondered before he came from the Army even by the way where met him a Iunto of his confident Friends and then it was averred that he had gained in the North certain evidence that the Scots Army came in by Invitation a Confederacy between the Heads of the Covenanters and some of the English Parliament-members of both Houses his most deadly Enemies to subvert the Government of the Church and to innovate in that of the Civil State that therefore he himself had digested his Intelligence into the Form of an Impeachment which he intended to have offered to the House of Peers so soon as he had taken his place there There were his Reasons which he might have from Example of the Earl of Bristow who yet came too late to begin upon his grand Enemy the Duke of Buckingham in the like charge but then Bristow was ready at the instant to recriminate upon the Duke by an Impeachment of High Treason against him which took off the Dukes edg ever after But here Strafford was not so nimble as Master Pym who got the start and it seems the Earl failed of his former purpose which had he seconded by an after timely stroke and impeached them and prosecuted it in a reasonable pace and method as was afforded him it might have happened not so fatal to his utter ruine And the Commons speeding thus far it encouraged them no doubt to fall upon others in the same track with the Arch-bishop few Moneths after In this time the two Armies were heavy charge to the Counties where they quartered therefore the twelfth of November the Parliament borrow of the City of London an hundred thousand pounds upon interest and ingagement of the credit of some of the Members untill the Moneys might be levied upon Subsidies and so to repay them Munday the sixteenth of November upon the humble suit of the House of Lords to his Majesty the Lord Bishop of Lincoln was released out of the Tower and the next Day being assigned for Humiliation he was brought into the Abbey Church by four Bishops and did his Office as Dean of Westminster before the Lords Never wise-man so gulled into the false shew of true affection from Lords and Commons and so continued till their turns were served upon the Earl of Strafford and the Arch Bishop of Canterbury he became the spectacle of
fourteen days 5. That according to such his Declarations and Speeches the said Earl of Strafford did use and exercise a Power above and against and to the subversion of the Fundamental Laws and stablished Government of the said Realm of Ireland extending such his Power to the Goods Free-holds Inheritances Liberties and Lives of his Majesties Subjects of the said Realm viz. the said Earl of Strafford the twelfth day of December Anno Domini 1635. in the time of full peace did in the said Realm of Ireland give and procure to be given against the Lord Mount Norris then and yet a Peer of Ireland and then Vice-Treasurer and Receiver-general of the Realm of Ireland and one of the principal Secretaries of State and Keeper of the Privy Signet of the said Kingdom a Sentence of Death by a Council of War called together by the said Earl of Strafford without any warrant or authority of Law or offence deserving any such punishment And he the said Earl did also at Dublin within the said Realm of Ireland in the Moneth of March in the fourteenth Year of his Majesties Reign without any legal or due proceedings or trial give or cause to be given a Sentence of Death against one other of his Majesties Subjects whose name is yet unknown and caused him to be put to death in execution of the said Sentence The Earls Reply That there was then a standing Army in Ireland and Armies cannot be governed but by Martial Law that it hath been put in constant practice with former Deputies that had the Sentence been unjustly given by him the Crime could amount but to Felony at most for which he hoped he might as well expect Pardon from his Majesty as the Lord Conway and Sir Iacob Astley had for doing the like in the late Northern Army That he neither gave Sentence nor procured it against the Lord Mount Norris but onely desired justice against the Lord for some Affront done to him as he was Deputy of Ireland That the said Lord was judged by a Council of War wherein he sate bare all the time and gave no Suffrage against him that also to evidence himself a Party he caused his Brother Sir George Wentworth in regard of the nearness of Bloud to decline all acting in the Process Lastly though the Lord Mount Norris justly deserved to dy yet he obtained his Pardon from the King 6. That the said Earl of Strafford without any lâ—gal proceedings and upon a Paper-petition of Richard Rolstone did cause the said Lord Mount Norris to be disseised and put out of possession of his Free-hold and Inheritance of his Manour of Tymore in the County of Armagh in the Kingdom of Ireland the said Lord Mount Norris having been two Years before in quiet possession thereof The Earls Reply That he conceived the Lord Mount Norris was legally divested of his Possessions there being a Suit long depending in Chancery and the Plaintiff complaining of Delay he upon the Complainants Petition called unto him the Master of the Rolls Lord Chancellour and Lord Chief Justice of the Common-Pleas and upon Proofs in Chancery decreed for the Plaintiff Wherein he said he did no more than what other Deputies had done before him 7. That the said Earl of Strafford in the Term of Holy Trinity in the thirteenth Year of his now Majesties Reign did cause a case commonly called the Case of Tenures upon defective Tiâ—les to be made and drawn up without any Iury or Trial or other legal Process and without the consent of Parties and did then procure the Iudges of the said Realm of Ireland to deliver their Opinions and Resolutions to that Case and by colour of such Opinions did without any legal proceeding cause Thomas Lord Dillon a Peer of the said Realm of Ireland to be put out of possession of divers Lands and Tenements being his Free-hold in the County of Mago and Rosecomen in the said Kingdom and divers others of his Majesties Subjects to be also put out of possession and disseised of their Free-hold by colour of the same resolution without legal proceedings whereby many hundreds of his Majesties Subjects were undone and their Families â—tterly rained The Earls Reply That the Lord Dillon with others producing his Patent according to a Proclamation on the behalf of his Majesty the said Patent was questionable upon which a Case was drawn and argued by Council and the Judges delivered their Opinions But the Lord Dillon or any other was not bound thereby nor put out of their Possessions but might have traverst the Office or otherwise have legally proceeded notwithstanding the said Opinion 8. That the said Earl of Strafford upon a Petition exhibited in October 1635. by Thomas Hibbots against Dame Mary Hibbots widow to him the said Earl of Strafford recommended the said Petition to the Counsel Table of Ireland where the most part of the Counsel gave their vote and opinion for the said Lady but the said Earl finding fault herewith caused an order to be entered against the said Lady and threatned her that if she refused to submit thereunto he would imprison her and fine her five hundred pound that if she continued obstinate he would continue her imprisonment and double her fine every month by month whereof she was enforced to relinquish her estate in the Land questioned in the said Petition which shortly was conveyed to Sir Robert Meredeth to the use of the said Earl of Strafford And the said Earl in like manner did imprison divers others of his Majesties subjects upon pretence of disobedience to his orders and decrees and other illegal commands by him made for pretended debts titles of Lands and other causes in an arbitrary and extrajudicial course upon paper Petitions to him preferred and no other cause legally depending The Earls Reply That true it is he had voted against the Lady Hibbots and thought he had reason so to do the said Lady being discovered by Fraud and Circumvention to have bargained for Lands of a great value for a small Sum. And he denied that the said Lands were after sold to his use or that the major part of the Council-board voted for the Lady the contrary appearing by the Sentence under the Hand of the Clerk of the Council which being true he might well threaten her with Commitment in case she disobeyed the said Order Lastly were it true that he were criminal therein yet were the Offeâ—ce but a Misdemeanour no Treason 9. That the said Earl of Strafford the 16. day of Feb. in the 12. year of his now Majesties reign assuming to himself a power above and against Law took upon him by a general Warrant under his hand to give power to the Lord Bishop of Down and Connor his Chancellor or Chancellors and their several officers thereto to be appointed to attach and arrest the Bodies of all such of the meaner and poorer sort who after citation should either refuse to appear before them or appearing should
party not bound to observe the Articles but to assist the Parliament in defence of the common cause Octob. 16. And by this President they afterwards would not endure any new triall Upon this score of the common cause Mr. Iohn Fountain a Lawyer at London was desired whâ—t he would please to lend who answered That it was against the Petition of Right to answer Yea or No. Whereupon the House of Commons for that contempt in not giving his Answer at all committed him to the Gate-house declaring further the imbecillity of his judgment or positive refraction to draw on others to the like Errour And such as refuse their Contribution of money or plate are disarmed and if in the least measure active in words or perswasion against the Parliament have the brand of Malignancie their persons secured and within a little time after made Delinquents and forfeâ—t all And because the Earl of Essex gave a deep yellow for his colours every Citizens Dame to the Draggle-tail of her Kitchin had got up that colour of the cause untill the Earl of Pembroke and Mountgomerie in a fume with a Parliament Captain swore That his Turdcolour'â— Skarf should not excuse him from Commitment But some not affecting that color set up others in disdain to the Generals which increasing to a Faction some urging of a Design to be distinguished by these Ribands the Parl. declare That such persons as shall be seen to wear them for distinction shall be forthwith committed and further proceeded against as Malignants endeavouring to set Divisions among the people In the Generals Commission the fourth Article is printed and published That whosoever shall return from the King to the Parliaments Armie within ten Days after Publication shall have reception and pardon excepting persons impeached of Delinquencie or Treason or have been eminent Actors against the Parliament and except the Earls of Bristol Cumberland New-castle Rivers and Carnarvan Secretarie Nicholas Endimion Porter Mr. Edward Hide the Duke of Richmond Viscount Newark Viscount Falkland now principal Secretarie of State to the King And thus marshalled in this order The King having sent over the Queen out of the danger of these Distractions into Holland and remaining at the Hague she made application to the Prince of Orange to whose Son the Princess Maria was maried by whose interest she had the fairer means to promote the Kings affairs with the States of the United Provinces for Arms and Ammunition which had been procured by the Lord Digby there and some Officers sent over to the Kings Army The Parliament having knowledg hereof send over Mr. Walter Strickland a Member of the House of Commons their Residenciary with Credential Letters to the States thus To the High and Mighty Lords the States of the United Provinces High and Mighty Lords We are commanded by the Lords and Commons assembled in the Parliament of England to signifie unto your Lordships that they have chosen and appointed the Bearer hereof Walter Strickland Esq to repair to your Lordships and to present to you in their Names and in the Name of the whole Kingdom a Declaration and some Propositions and Desires very much importing the maintenance of the Protestant Religion which is the surest Foundation of the safetie and prosperitie of this Kingdom and your State and the ancient amitie between us to the advantage of both desiring your Lordships to give ear to what shall be delivered or propounded to you by him And to expedite your Answer thereunto in such manner as shall stand with your Wisdoms and the due respect of the common good of the State and of your selves which is the earnest desire of Your affectionate Friends and Servants Mandevil Speaker pro tempore for the Lords House William Lenthal Speaker of the House of Commons A Declaration of the Lords and Commons of the Parliament of England to the High and Mighty Lords the States of the United Provinces We the Lords and Commons in Parliament assembled taking into serious consideration the meanes of composing the great distempers and combustions begun in this Kingdom which threaten the destruction and ruine of it and of all other Protestant Princes and States have thought good to make this Declaration to the High and Mightie Lords the States of the United Provinces That we under stand by a Letter of the Lord Digby a person fled out of this Kingdom for high Treason That as he often endeavoured by his wicked and malicious counsels to make division between his Majestie and the Parliament and hath been in great part the cause of that miserable and unnatural War which is made against us by his Majestie so he hath laboured by all means in the United Provinces to provide Arms Powder and Ammunition for the fomenting of that War and making it more dangerous to this Kingdom and for this purpose did address himself to the Prince of Orange by whose countenance and help as we are informed by the Lord Digby's own Letters he hath made provision of great quantities of Ordnance Powder Arms and divers other sorts of warlike provision And we are further informed by credible advertisement that the Prince of Orange in favour of the Lord Digby and those other wicked Counsellours and Incendiaries who being joyned together in these mischievous practises against the peace of this Kingdom hath not onely licensed but the better to encourage divers Commanders experienced Officers and Souldiers to resort into this Kingdom in aid of them against the Parliament hath promised to reserve their places for them in their absence and doth cause other provision of the same kinde to be made and prepared to be sent over for their supplie to the great hurt of this Kingdom and the danger of interrupting the most necessarie profitable and long continued amitie between the two States We further desire to let them know that we cannot believe that this is done by any authoritie or direction from their Lordships considering the great help that they have received from this Kingdom when heretofore they lay under the heavie oppression of their Princes and how conducible the friendship of this Nation concurring with the wisdom valour and industrie of their own people hath been to the greatness and power which they now enjoy Neither can we think that they will be forward to help to make us slaves who have been usefull and assistant in making them free-men Or that they will forget that our Troubles and Dangers issue from the same Fountain with their own and that those who are set a work to undermine Religion and Libertie in the Kingdome are the same which by open force did seek to bereave them of both It cannot be unknown to that wise State that it is the Iesuitical Faction here that hath corrupted the counsels of our King the consciences of a greaâ— part of our Clergie which hath plotted so many mischievous Designs to destroy the Parliament and still endeavoureth to divide Ireland from